Pickling, for pickles sake.

Hello, people. Let's make some pickles. Before I say anything else, I want it noted that this recipe calls for a 12-hour soak in brine before the cucumbers are processed for pickling, so please keep that in mind.

Now, I don't know about you, but in my world, few pickles can claim superiority over a nice, crisp dill. The classic dill pickle seemed the natural place to start as I spread my wings and take off into the wide world of pickling.

You'll remember all of the equipment you need from the previous canning post: Introduction to Canning: Applesauce, or you can go and read that to get a feel for the basic equipment needed.

A word of caution, I suppose: We all know the saying "measure twice, cut once" - best to make all necessary preparations and spend the time squaring away sterilization before you are "in the thick of it"...which is to say, "sterilize properly once, don't suffer botulism later". So, yeah, I'm not going to harp on it here on the ole blog too much, but I would love it if all of my friends took cleanliness in canning seriously, as I do, at home!! :)I haven't heard of too many bad stories about home-canned goods, but the few I have heard of were SO terribly bad! Don't want to go there now do we?

Enough chit chat. Making Dill Pickles.

Selecting canning cucumbers is the first step. Canning cukes are not too terribly expensive and, while they can be found during certain times of the year at the chain grocery store, they are sold so cheap and commonly by farmers in any given area that it's really worth checking out how to come by them from a local, organic source.

A good cucumber for canning is dark green, with lots of warts and a firm (but not bloated) feel to it. Pale or yellowing cukes or cucumbers that feel slightly soft or are very smooth are past their perfect pickling prime and should be passed up, if possible, as they don't make quite as crisp and delicious a pickle.


Ingredients:

- 8 or so pounds of fresh pickling cucumbers
- A couple of gallons of water (for brining the cukes)
- 1 and 1/2 cups of canning/pickling salt (note: do NOT use table salt for canning)
- 1 and 1/2 quarts apple cider vinegar
- 1/3 cup of sugar
- A couple of quarts of water for your pickling solution
- Pickling Spice - between two and three tablespoons (found at the grocery store)
- Mustard Seeds (a tall bottle should do)
- Dill Seeds (again, a bottle should do for this recipe)
- Garlic (a number of cloves, minced)

The NIGHT BEFORE you plan to pickle:

Dissolve 3/4 of a cup of canning salt in a couple of gallons of water and pour over your cucumbers in a large bowl or pot. Leave them to sit in this brine over night, or 12 or so hours and then discard the liquid.

When you are ready to get started, after the 12 hours brining, wash your cucumbers in cold water.

Before you do anything else, make sure your jars are sterilized and waiting, your lids are in a shallow pan on the stove to be sterilized and your canner is full of hot water, on the stove working it's way to a boil.

1. Cut the cucumbers on both ends keeping in mind that, if you are using pint-sized jars, they will need to be short enough to allow for a 1/4-inch space above the top of the cucumbers and pickling solution. After the ends are cut, slice them length ways for spears or, if you want bread and butter style pickles, cut them across in smaller pieces.



2. Combine in a large, non-reactive pot:

- 1 and 1/2 quarts vinegar
- 1/2 cup (+/- to preference) canning salt
- 1/4 - 1/3 cup sugar
- 2 quarts water

Measure out 2 to 3 tablespoons of the pickling spice into some cheese cloth and secure it and drop it into the pot with the rest of the pickling mixture. Heat the mixture to near boiling temperature, just a rolling sort of simmer.

3. In the bottom of each jar, put about 1 teaspoon of mustard seed, 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoon of dill seed and about 1 teaspoon of the minced garlic.

4. Pack the jars full of the cut cucumber spears, again, making sure they do not reach above 1/4-inch from the top of the jar and, once all the jars are packed, remove the spice bag from the pickling mixture and pour the mixture over the pickles in each jar.

5. Now you're ready to place the lids on each jar and screw the rings on top, hand tighten and place in your jars in your canner basket.

Lower the tray/basket into the briskly boiling water and boil the jars for 10 minutes. Once your timer goes off, remove from the canner and bring to a cool, dark and out of the way place for them to cool. As with the applesauce, you will know that the jars are properly canned if, when gently pressed, the lids on the jars are all the way sucked in and don't pop in and out and make a "pinging" noise.

Make sure you give your pickles time to sit and develop good flavor before you sample them. Some people day a few days should do...I would wait a few weeks.

When I made these pickles, I created an experimental version with twice as much garlic and the addition of hot pepper flakes...I can't wait to sample these spicy garlic dill pickles and tell you all how they turned out!

Next time: Pickled Beets <---- a reason to get out of bed in the morning. Also, Pickled Carrots...you know you want some!